Paper helicopters and balancing clowns.
At the end of last week Fourth class conducted two investigations. One was to make paper helicopters of different sizes and to investigate how the variables of size, the height they were dropped from and weight affected the flight of the helicopters. The children observed that the smaller helicopters typically fell faster as they encountered less air resistance. Heavier helicopters also fell faster.
The second investigation was based around the centre of gravity. The lower it is the easier it is to balance the object. The children used clown templates cut from card that were impossible to balance at first. They experimented by adding weight in the form of coins to the clowns and had great success balancing the clowns on their fingers.